What's in a Name?

Nutty Acres? Did I really write that? I suppose I did, while under the influence of Mark. Usually he's a good influence, but every now and then he leads me astray. This was one of those times.

We're not nutty. Having two big pecan trees and a house on Walnut Street doesn't even begin to qualify as "nutty". Secondly, this house is on about a third of an acre. In order to qualify as "acres" there must be at least two. So no more "Nutty Acres".

Naming one's house is a very English thing to do. It seems perfectly logical to name a castle or a manor house. It seems whimsical to name a cottage. I like whimsey. I'm going to name the house.

When we were in England in June, I was on the lookout for house/cottage names. Some of the more common names are: Rose Cottage, Ivy Cottage, Orchard Cottage, Willow Cottage, Corner Cottage, Honeysuckle Cottage, Badger Cottage, and Nightingale Cottage, just to name a few. It seems that many names are taken from the local flora and fauna, or in the case of "Corner Cottage", location.

Our house definitely qualifies as a cottage. Two thousand square feet, two stories. Small and cozy by local standards. And we're on a corner - Corner Cottage? No. I don't think that two rose bushes qualifies us to use the name "Rose Cottage". We only have one holly bush and our one lavender is near death. We could have used "Ivy Cottage" until Mark ripped all the ivy off the house and killed it. Let's consider animals. We've seen an opossum skittering about the back garden. "Possum Cottage"? Probably not. I haven't seen any skunks or raccoons lately, but I don't like the sound of "Skunk Cottage" or "Raccoon Cottage". We could consider "Mockingbird Cottage" or "Hummingbird Cottage". I don't particularly like mockingbirds, but I love the hummingbirds that visit our garden and "Hummingbird Cottage" has a nice ring to it. We have a fair number of butterflies, so "Butterfly Cottage" might be an option. We also have honeysuckle, but it's in the back garden and you can't see it from the front. But you can see the huge pecan trees that tower above the house. Pecan Cottage?

So right now the options are:

1. Hummingbird Cottage
2. Butterfly Cottage
3. Pecan Cottage

You can't text or phone in your vote, but you can provide feedback. Seriously, I'm interested in anything any of you have to say about it. And I'm open to other suggestions. (Unless you're going to tell me not to name the house.)